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disorderly conduct is a little less of a big deal than sexual assault. Though, I don't know why Rice hasn't gotten anything yet.

Ray Rice remains on deck for a suspension

Posted by Mike Florio on July 13, 2014

With the latest off-field incident for the Ravens happening this weekend, one of the team’s various 2014 arrests should result in a specific impact on the upcoming football season soon.

Running back Ray Rice has visited the league office in the wake of the resolution of assault charges involving the woman who would become his wife. Eventually, discipline will be imposed, most likely in the form of a suspension.

Rice will have appeal rights. To the Commissioner, who’ll make the decision in the first place.

The absence of a history of off-field incidents will help Rice. The fact that he struck a woman will hurt him, especially if the Commissioner has seen the surveillance video of the punch that knocked out Rice’s wife.

In the end, a multi-game ban should be the assumption. Anything less than that would be a surprise, especially since the NFL has been making a conscious effort in recent years to increase its concentration of female fans.

The sooner the Ravens know, the sooner they can make plans for however many weeks they’ll not have Rice on the roster once the regular season begins.

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Jimmy Smith became the fifth Baltimore Ravens player arrested this offseason when he was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct late Saturday night.

The embarrassment for the Ravens isn't the individual arrests, per se. Three players were arrested for misdemeanors, and none may go to trial on any of the charges.

Five years from now, the lasting black eye from the Ravens' trouble-filled 2014 offseason will likely be running back Ray Rice's incident and the cumulative effect of the arrests.

The numbers are nearly unbelievable since this year's Super Bowl:

The Ravens have had five players arrested, and the other 31 teams combined have had 14 arrests. This means one out of every four NFL players arrested this offseason have been Ravens.

There are only three other teams with multiple arrests (San Francisco, Buffalo and Chicago), and none has more than two. The Cincinnati Bengals, who have been known for making headlines for arrests in the past, have had only one off-field incident.

The Ravens' five arrests have been in a five-month span this year and are one more than they had in coach John Harbaugh's previous six seasons.

Most of these legal issues have been resolved. Rice (felony aggravated assault) and offensive lineman Jah Reid (misdemeanor battery) have both been accepted into pretrial intervention programs, and wide receiver Deonte Thompson (felony possession of marijuana) had his case dismissed.

Running back Lorenzo Taliaferro (misdemeanor destruction of property as well as drunk and disorderly) has a July 31 court date, and Smith will have a court date assigned.

While many want to point a finger at the Ravens for not having a tighter rein on their players, all five arrests occurred when the players were on a break from offseason workouts. In fact, all but Smith's arrest occurred outside Maryland. There is only so much a team can do to keep an eye on all 90 players on its roster.

The good news for the Ravens is that the offseason is almost over. There are only 10 days until the entire team reports for training camp. The Ravens can only hope they don't add to this police blotter of an offseason before then.

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Originally Posted by birtikidis

disorderly conduct is a little less of a big deal than sexual assault. Though, I don't know why Rice hasn't gotten anything yet.

You mean the sexual assault that there was no evidence actually happened? So Ben gets nailed for unfounded and non-supported accusations for which he was never arrested and these other guys get nothing despite the fact they were arrested? It's more clear to me now.

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I think Ray Rice should be four games, at least. With Ben, there was not even sufficient probable cause to charge him with a crime. With Ray Rice, we all actually saw the video. And then there was the shameful apology, on the Friday before Memorial Day, when his now-wife apologized.